Bob Mackie was never much for nightlife. “I was in my studio, working away, and I couldn’t have been happier,” he says. But perhaps no designer is more responsible than he is for broadcasting glamour, pizzazz, and pure spectacle into Americans’ living rooms. Born and raised in the suburbs of Los Angeles, Mackie always knew he wanted to be a designer. Encouraged early on by the legendary costumer Edith Head, Mackie worked for a time under the midcentury pioneer Jean Louis before breaking through on his own with the outfits for Mitzi Gaynor’s Las Vegas revue in 1966. He went on to help shape the stage and screen image of a Mount Rushmore of legendary divas: Carol Burnett, Diana Ross, Tina Turner, Whitney Houston, Diahann Carroll, and, perhaps most iconically, Cher.
In time, his clients wanted to wear his designs in everyday life—and so did their fans. Runway collections and some of the most eye-popping red carpet gowns of all time followed, but Hollywood remained his true love. (He has a Tony, nine Emmys, and three Oscar nominations to prove it.) Mackie’s life story will be told in the documentary Bob Mackie: Naked Illusion, to be released later this year; in the meantime, the designer takes us behind the scenes of his dream factory and the glittering moments that defined his career.
“I tried out for cheerleading because I knew I wasn’t going to be a football player,” says Mackie (top right). “I thought to myself, Well, it’s the closest thing to show business without being in show business.” Though Mackie remembers those times fondly, he did have one fashion note for his alma mater: “We had the worst school colors. They were maroon and gray. Can you imagine?”
Mackie, seen here with his elder sister, Patricia, grew up with a supportive family, but they didn’t quite understand his Hollywood dream. So he took matters into his own hands by studying the careers of those who came before him. “I always wanted to go to Chouinard Art Institute,” he says. “Many of the designers in Hollywood had gone to that school back in the 1920s.” Originally enrolled at Pasadena City College, Mackie made it to Chouinard after winning a scholarship.
In 1961, Mackie left Chouinard after a year and worked as a sketch artist for Edith Head and Jean Louis. He was often at the NBC costume workroom, having outfits made. He was so excited he ended up decorating the workroom’s door with his drawings for Christmas.
Mackie first encountered Barbra Streisand in 1963, when she guested on The Judy Garland Show while he was working as an assistant costume designer. But their most significant collaboration would come on the set of 1975’s Funny Lady, where this photo was taken. “I stood behind her and I looked,” says Mackie. “She was quite amused by the fact that I was almost doing her facial pose.” She sent him this signed copy afterward.
“Diana Ross is one of the most gifted and talented and hardest to live with ladies I know,” says Mackie. They first collaborated on a television special featuring the Temptations and Ross’s group, the Supremes. “It was a big salute to Broadway, and it was so much fun to do,” says Mackie. “And I got an Emmy.” They worked together for decades, creating looks for the screen, the stage, and the red carpet. This nude-illusion bodysuit, worn on the cover of Ross’s 1970 album Everything Is Everything, has frequently been emulated but never quite duplicated in the years since.
“Bernadette Peters is my oldest friend in this business, in television especially,” says Mackie. “We had her on The Carol Burnett Show I don’t know how many times.” Here, the pair attend the 1986 Met Gala. In sharp contrast to today, he says, back then society types were still a bit stuffy about entertainers joining the event.
Mackie’s first foray into consumer fashion was a collection for the lingerie brand Glydons in 1979. Predating the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show by decades, the extravagant runway show was staged at Studio 54.
“I’m not going to say any more about the Met Gala moment,” says Mackie, referring to the Marilyn Monroe dress that Kim Kardashian infamously rewore in 2022. Mackie was the sketch artist for the Jean Louis dress, which Monroe had worn to serenade President John F. Kennedy at his 45th birthday celebration in 1962. Mackie described Kardashian’s decision to unearth it as a “big mistake.”
Madonna wasn’t a regular Mackie client, but the one time they crossed paths made pop culture history. Fashion editor Marina Schiano dolled up the Material Girl like Marilyn Monroe in a Mackie runway sample for a 1991 cover of Vanity Fair. On set, Madonna said she wanted something like it to wear to the Academy Awards, and Schiano told her to call up Mackie and ask him to make her something special. “She wore that dress all night—to perform, at the parties. We got a lot of publicity,” recalls Mackie.
“They were giving Joan a big to-do in San Francisco, where they were showing Land of the Pharaohs, in which she played an Egyptian queen of some sort,” says Mackie of this night with Joan Collins, circa 1981. “We were right in the heart of the gay district in San Francisco. That place was packed. And there she was, dressed like that, in a brand-new dress that I did for her.”
“I was on pussy patrol because Cher was stark naked except for some chains,” says Mackie of the heavy metal–inspired photo shoot for the singer’s 1979 rock album, Prisoner. “There were all these guys around with hardly anything on. She said, ‘Stay there so nobody will see anything.’ I said, ‘What do you mean, see anything? You’re naked!’ ”
The singer with Burnett on the show Cher in 1975.
Mackie did the costumes for all 11 seasons of The Carol Burnett Show, where he met Cher. “Sonny and Cher were on the very first season. We were repairing a beaded dress, and she said, ‘Someday I’d like to have a beaded dress.’ And I said, ‘Well, you could.’ She said, ‘No, we can’t afford it right now.’ I said, ‘When you’re ready, I’m ready.’ ” Here she is with Raquel Welch in 1975.
After donning Mackie at the Oscars in 1984—where she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, for Silkwood—Cher returned in 1986 to present the Best Supporting Actor award in one of the most famous creations by the designer. “I said to her, ‘Do you think maybe it’s too much outfit? You’re pulling focus from the actual winner of this award,’ ” recalls Mackie. “And she said, ‘Oh, no. I don’t know who it’ll be, but he’ll love it.’ ” Don Ameche ended up winning for Cocoon and did, in fact, love it: “He said, ‘I would not have my picture in every paper in the country with Cher if she hadn’t dressed like that.’ ”
Mackie never really intended to show his work on the runway. “I wanted to design for movies, stage, and Broadway—anything other than fashion.” Still, so many private clients called on him that he began producing regular collections in the 1980s. How did the established New York fashion guard respond to Mackie’s arrival? “They were all very nice. Some of them made shirts that said HOLLYWOOD BOB on them.” Mackie celebrates after a show, circa 1986.
Mackie was the guest judge on the very first episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, long before the show became an Emmy-winning machine. “I thought I’d never get out of there. Do you know how long it takes for drag queens to put on their makeup?” he asks. The show invited him back in 2023 to honor him with the first ever Giving Us Lifetime Achievement Award.
RuPaul has worn Mackie’s creations numerous times, including a silver version of the signature flame dress to the 1995 VH1 Fashion and Music Awards.
It’s not a surprise that the man recently responsible for styling some of Hollywood’s biggest superstars has a fondness for Mackie. “This dress was kind of a tribute to My Fair Lady from a Broadway collection that I did. Law Roach found it, and he was hanging on to it for something special.” Roach ended up putting it on then-client Anya Taylor-Joy for the 2020 premiere of her film Emma. “On her, it was amazing,” says Mackie.
Iman, a frequent muse and presence on his runways, closed out his 1983 show in a towering bridal ensemble.
“Miley is one of those creatures who was born to be onstage,” says Mackie. “You can’t beat her—it’s amazing.” Cyrus’s team had reached out about pulling from Mackie’s archive for her 2024 Grammys performance of “Flowers,” and she eventually settled on a one-of-a-kind beaded fringe dress from a 2002 collection. The piece fit like a glove, and she performed her choreography in front of the designer. “She’s one of the Disney kids. They’re just so well-trained. They know about rehearsal, and they know about getting everything right—the lighting and the hair. There’s never a detail she’s not worried about.”
